06/22/2012

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is a Forbes-listed billionaire who heads the Sinaloa cartel, and in a humiliating blow to the drug kingpin Mexican marines yesterday detained his 26-year-old son Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar -- known as El Gordo or the Fat One -- in the western state of Jalisco as reported by Ken Ellingwood for the Los Angeles Times.

Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara "said the capture was due to months of intelligence work and information from US authorities" as reported by The Associated Press: "he said Guzman Salazar was wanted in the United States on an outstanding extradition request, to face charges in Chicago related to drug trafficking." The Windy City is a major distribution hub for the Sinaloa cartel, and most of its product is delivered directly from Mexico by freight rail and semi trucks.

The 55-year-old El Chapo is a degenerate philanderer with many children from multiple women, and his current wife is a former beauty queen -- younger than his apprehended son -- who gave birth to twin girls in September 2011 at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, CA.

Last February Mexican federal police "nearly nabbed" Guzman at a mansion in the coastal resort town of Los Cabos in the country's southern Baja peninsula as then reported by Fox News Latino: "the incident fuels growing speculation that authorities are closing in on Guzmán, and that the government of President Felipe Calderón is determined to grab him before his six-year term ends in December."

06/23/12 UPDATE: Turns out the big catch was a big flop. Mexican authorities now say that they erroneously identified the apprehended suspect as El Chapo's son the Fat One, and he really is 23-year-old Felix Beltran Leon who "works with his mother-in-law at a used car dealership" as reported by The Associated Press: "the Attorney General's Office said that 'necessary tests' had proved that he wasn't the drug lord's son, but said he would remain under investigation for the guns and money found during his arrest."